China's PPI down 0.8 pct in January

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, decreased by 0.8 percent year on year in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

The decrease expanded by 0.1 percentage point from that registered in December. On a monthly basis, China's PPI edged down 0.4 percent in January, according to the bureau.

"Prices of industrial products continued to fall in January, weighed down by fluctuating international crude oil prices and sliding domestic coal prices," said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

Friday's data also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.1 percent year on year in January.